A History and Sociology of Design, Futurism, and Utopianism

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Sites of Utopia: Lecture Response

In this world that is increasingly designed, we need to be open to political experimentation in order to design responsibly. Here at RISD, particularly in our first few years, I’ve found that many people view our liberal arts education as unrelated to our studio work. The great priority placed on the creation of enticing visuals often excludes consideration for the social ramifications of a design. This sacrifice of long term sustainability in order to create short term appeal or comfort is also evident in larger scale topics such as the difference of our defense R&D budget to that of our environmental R&D. It is a complicated discussion, and as mentioned in the lecture, it is not one that is necessarily binary. In this age approaching the theoretical Anthropocene, our opportunity as designers to start a discourse and change thought is great, and it should be embedded in our design educations.